The Hand Of The Diligent
Minister: |
Rev. Ronald Van Overloop |
Date: |
11/20/2011 PM
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Text:
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Proverbs 10:4
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Psalters: |
229, 415, 393, 36 |
- The antithesis condemned.
- The slack hand arises from the sluggard/slothful who is dis-inclined to work, habitually lazy.
- He wants to live by wishing instead of working (21:25).
- The sluggard loves sleep as an escape from work (6:6-11; 19:15; 20:13).
- His unwillingness to work is shown in his seeing real or imagined difficulties which make work impossible (22:13; 26:13).
- God’s view of such is seen in the following descriptions.
- The sluggard is filled with conceit, believing what he wants to believe (26:16).
- Closely related, the slothful is a fool, i.e., ‘void of understanding” (24:30).
- God often equates the idleness of the sluggard with drunkenness, adultery, and the lying tongue.
- Generally, those slothful in their God-given job are also slothful spiritually.
- The sluggard pays a price for his sloth.
- He desires (dreams) but it often ends in frustration because he does not work (13:4).
- The sluggard is often denied advancement (12:24).
- He that is slack in his work is equated to those who “waste,” i.e., those who corrupt, destroy or pervert (18:9).
- And the sluggard often finds himself on the path to poverty (6:11; 20:30-34).
- The “diligent” is someone who is sharp, and ready to work.
- God commends and commands diligence when He expresses judgments on the character of the sluggard.
- The diligent is advanced in position (12:24).
- The diligent puts forth effort even as he is aware that it is God’s blessing which makes one rich (22).
- We must shine as lights in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation (Phil. 2:14). This is antithetical living.
- The fear of Jehovah must fill us and control us; the fear of Jehovah is only by faith in Jesus Christ.